Sunday Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY AND GREAT LENTEN SCHEDULE OF WORSHIP

Morning Service / Առաւօտեան Ժամերգութիւն…………….....9:00 am

Sunrise Service / Արեւագալի Ժամ…………………………………...…...9:45 am

followed by Divine Liturgy / որմէ ետք Ս.Պատարագ Church School /Կիրակնօրեայ Վարժարան.............................10:15 am

Wednesday Eve Vigil / Չորեքշաբթի Երեկոյեան Հսկում…....7:00 pm

SACRED LECTIONS OF THE LITURGY TODAY THIS WEEK: Isaiah 54:11-55:13, 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:1, Luke 15:1-32

NEXT WEEK: Isaiah 56:1-57:21, Ephesians 4:17-5:14, Luke 16:1-31

Lector: Yeretzgin Shakeh Ohanesian

St. John Armenian Church of Greater Detroit 22001 Northwestern Highway l Southfield, MI 48075

248.569.3405 (phone) l 248.569.0716 (fax)

The Reverend Father Garabed Kochakian – Pastor The Reverend Father Diran Papazian – Pastor Emeritus

Deacon Rubik Mailian – Director of Sacred Music and Pastoral Assistant

Ms. Margaret Lafian - Organist

Welcome! We welcome you to the Divine Liturgy / Soorp Badarak and invite all who are Bap-tized and Chrismated in, or are in communion with, the Armenian Church to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. If you are new to our parish and would like information about our many parish groups, please ask any Parish Council member on duty at the lobby desk. Make certain you sign our Guest Book before you leave so we can be in touch. Enter to worship the Lord Jesus Christ who loves you and depart with His love to serve others.

OUR CHURCH AND PARISH IS A PLACE WHERE . . . All people are welcome . . . Every member is a minister . . .

The world is our collective responsibility . . . Disciple-making is our goal . . . And worship is our duty and delight.

FEBRUARY 24, 2013—THE ARMENIAN YEAR 1463 SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON—ԱՆԱՐԱԿԻ ԿԻՐԱԿԻ

TODAY’S GOSPEL: LUKE 15:1-32

And he said, "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gath-ered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squan-dered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.'" And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had com-passion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

PRAYERS FOR THE SICK AND HOSPITALIZED

William Carlin Gayaneh Kachadourian Cindy Rauch Dr. Haig Tashjian Rev. Fr. Garen Gdanian Cheryl Giesa Steve Daniels

GIFTS TO THE CHURCH

WE WISH FATHER DIRAN PAPAZIAN A HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY

AND CONTINUED GOOD HEALTH

(additional)

Mary Davidson

Gary Gozmanian

Mr. & Mrs. Gregory Jamian

Simon Javizian

Lucy Merzian

Dr. Edward & Anna Sarkisian & Family

CANCELLED!

DAY BY DAY AFTERNOON BIBLE STUDY

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH

Next Bible Study: Wednesday, March 21st

GIFTS TO THE CHURCH

WE WISH HARRY MARDIROSIAN A HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY TODAY!

Mickey Mardirosian, Aralynn, Dicran, Allison & Lisa Haidostian

Howard & Cathy Atesian

Gladys Krikorian

Anna Soultanian

GIFTS FOR LENTEN FLOWERS

May angels guide and protect the newest member of our family,

Sosi Aznive Callan born to Kelly and Dikran Callan. We pray for

God's great blessing upon her. Altar flowers are presented in honor

of her arrival by grandparents Denise and Bob Karakashian,

Yerchanig and Roy Callan and great grandparents, Deacon Mihran

and Gayle Hoplamazian and the late Agnes (Aznive) Dourjalian.

ALL OUR ARMENIAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO PERISHED IN AZERBAIJAN, VICTIMS OF THE POGROMS AGAINST ARMENIANS BY AZERI FORCES IN BAKU, SUMGAIT, KIROVABAD DURING 1988—1990 HARRY S. CARMAN, JR., 1st Year Requested by the Karamanian Family The Axt Family ARET HINTIRYAN, 12th Year, Husband, Father, Grandfather Requested by Mrs. Aznif Hintiryan Dr. Arlet Hintiryan & Arthur Dakessian, Sophie & Lori Lillian & Sevan Calukyan, Alec & Arlen MARGARET GUMUSHIAN, 47th Year, Mother, Grandmother CHARLES GUMUSHIAN, 11th Year, Father, Grandfather

Requested by Gary, Barbara, Andrea & Adam Gumushian

__________________________________

Please note that Requiem prayers will not be offered on:

March 24th—Palm Sunday

March 31st—Easter Sunday

BASHDON HOKEHANKSDYAN—REQUIEM SERVICE

FOR THOSE WHO SLEEP IN CHRIST

CONGRATULATIONS TO SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS, CHOIR

MEMBER DIKRAN & KELLY CALLAN, AND MARGARET & KEVIN

GRAY ON THE BIRTH OF THEIR CHILDREN:

A GIRL TO THE CALLANS

A BOY TO THE GRAYS

OUR PRAYERS FOR THEIR GOOD HEALTH AND PROSPERITY!

THE PURPOSE OF THE GREAT LENTEN FAST

The Great Lenten fasting for us, as Christians, is our entrance and participation in the experience of God in Christ our Saviour, and how He liberates us from the total dependence on the material and physical with the gift of the spiritual by: Experiencing hunger to remind us it is Christ God who truly

satisfies us Experiencing emptiness to remember The Lord who fully fills us

in soul and body Experiencing deprivations to remember Our Creator who pro-

vides for all our needs Experiencing self-sacrifice to remember that Jesus sacrificed

Himself on the Cross for us Remembering what true pleasures and treasures in life are

when we gain in Christ Fasting and abstaining are ways of more clearly seeing people and possessions we sometimes take for granted in our lives. In keeping the Great Fast / Medz Bahk for 40 days, we may be able to see the fruits of our sacrifice and experience the renewed per-son we have become with a Christ-like and heavenly life by what we say and how we demonstrate our charity, our discipleship, and our stewardship.

Our Lord Jesus says: “…If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.” “It is necessary first of all to purify oneself, and only then can you purify others; to gain wisdom and then impart wisdom to others; to become light so we can illuminate others.” - St. Gregory Nazianzus

The Sunrise Service of the Armenian Church – Arevakali Zham

The Sunrise Service is one of the seven services of daily worship in the Armenian Book of Liturgies and Prayers, and is actually part of the morn-ing prayers that we offer every Sunday before the Divine Liturgy. It is tradi-tionally offered in the Armenian Church during the six-week Great Lenten season on Wednesday and Friday mornings in parishes where people live close to the church and are able to attend worship on those days. In the U.S. in communities like ours where people do not come to pray daily, for their convenience we offer this service on Sundays before the Lenten Badarak. The meaning of this service is quite appropriate for this Great Lenten season during which we sit and sing in a somber darkened environment in the Church, waiting for the Light of Easter and the Resurrection of Christ, the grantor of salvation and THE TRUE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. In the writings of our Holy Fathers, the first time we hear of the Sun-rise Service is from the accounts written by St. John of Otzoon, a Catholicos of our Church during the 8th century. He reports that one of his immediate predecessors, the Catholicos Yezr of Paraznakert had initiated the Sunrise Service sometime during the 7th century. In its present structure and form, however, this service is more likely to have been created in the 12th century by the renown and blessed Catholicos of All Armenians, St. Nersess Shnorhali who, with his eloquent poetry and musical ability, authored the majority of hymns/sharagans we sing in Armenian churches today. What motivated St. Nersess? Did he borrow from an earlier form of the Sunrise Service to create this special worship? We are not certain. It is likely that he, like so many of his predecessors, had to deal with vestiges of Armenian pre-Christian antiquity. The service is one of reaction against cer-tain sectarian movements in Armenia throughout the growth of the Christian Church. There was such a group known as the Sons of the Sun, known in Ar-menian as the Arevortik. They claimed to be Christians, but still followed pre-Christian habits and beliefs emphasizing the importance of sun worship. They were actually remnants of the early medieval cult in Armenia called the Pau-licians of the 8th century and Tondrakians of the 13th-14th centuries who held odd Christian theology that was unorthodox, and they were not in commun-ion with the Armenian or Byzantine Orthodox Faith. They rejected many of the practices and theology of the universal Church. St. Nersess, in his famous Book of Letters defending the Orthodoxy of the Christian faith of the Armenians, refers to the conversion of this heretical group of sun worshippers to Christianity.

Though they entered into the Church, they brought with them old habits, which St. Nersess in his infinite wisdom saw the need to redress by composing prayers and hymns that spoke of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Father in terms of Light, power and energy. He simply juxtaposed the Son of God Jesus, emphasizing that Jesus was the shining Intelligent Light above and beyond the physical light of the sun. The Central Theme

The focus of this special service is the light. The word looys/light oc-curs 32 times throughout this service and especially in the hymn, Looys, Ara-rich Looso, Arachin Looys (Light, Creator of Light, Primal Light), where it oc-curs 17 times. The sunrise is proclaimed as the light from God created in the beginning of time. The light shines on both the righteous and sinners, and reveals and uncovers the deeds of all humanity, good and bad alike. In es-sence, what really lights up our lives is the Divine Light of God in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the World. St. Nersess says that Divine Light illuminates our understanding of God and the Mystery that emanates from His Son and Holy Spirit through the saints, meaning holy and good peo-ple. “Saint” actually means a person through and by whom the Light of God shows itself. In the songs and prayers of the Sunrise Service, the saints in heaven and the saintly ones on earth are asked to pray for us so that God looks up-on us with favor. Through the journey of our Sunrise prayers and hymns we arrive at our ultimate direction and passageway toward the Kingdom of God. The hymn Jahnabarh meaning the Way, the Truth and the Life who is Christ the Lord Himself completes our journey from the rising of the sun to the sunset of our lives in Christ. In the prayers and hymns of this service there is little mention of darkness/khavar and sin/meghk. In fact, they are only mentioned once. The emphasis is Light, from the light created by God to the Light everlasting, who is Christ the Lord. In our prayers we call for God to send to us the beaming floodlights of heaven: Christ, the intelligible Light and Wisdom of the Father, born to be the Light of the world, Jesus, who is above and beyond all created matter, the sun of day and the light of the stars at night. He is the one who lifts us up from the darkness and depths of the worldly to the height of heav-en. He is the Way to Eternal Life in the Kingdom of God. As we pray now, let us remember His words – I am the Light of the World, the Light that gives direction, the Light that gives us hope, the Light that transforms, the Light that shows us the way, the Light of Faith. -Father Garabed

February 27th— ALL YOU CAN EAT FISH & CHIPS

March 6th and March 13th March 20th - LOBSTER DINNER!!

Dinners will be served from 5:30 to 6:30 pm Donation $10.00/adult

$5.00/child (fish or grilled cheese) Please make your reservations in advance with the

Church Office (248) 569-3405 Lobster Dinner (March 20th only) Donation is $20.00

LENTEN VIGIL SERVICE AT 7:00 PM IN THE SANCTUARY FOLLOWING DINNER

ACYOA Juniors

2013 Lenten Fish Dinners

are back again!

Every Wednesday during Great Lent

CHURCH SCHOOL FUNDRAISING DURING LENT

During the period of Great Lent, our Church School students have a special project which will teach them the importance of helping others by collecting donations for the Diocesan-wide Church School Lenten Drive which will benefit:

Relief for Syrian Armenians—The need is ongoing and the crisis is not over. Thousands of Armenians are facing dangers, food short-ages, and extreme wartime conditions in Syria.

Tovuz Village Day Care Center in Armenia—Children aged 3-6 are looked after in a day care setting that provides two small meals per day, beds and bedding for rest, love and psychological support in a sub-standard building without water and electricity. We can help Tovuz villagers renovate their day care center and provide healthy meals.

When you are approached by a Church School student with a Len-ten Canister, please give generously.

St. John Armenian Church

18th ANNUAL LENTEN RETREAT SEMINAR Sponsored in part by the Yeretzgin Rosalie Papazian Endowment Fund

Saturday, March 23, 2013

9:00 am - 3:30 pm

St. John’s Cultural Hall

“The Face of Lazarus: Faith, Healing & Revival”

Guest Speaker: Very Rev. Father Daniel Findikyan Director, Zohrab Information Center

Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church, New York

DONATION: $15 INCLUDES ALL MATERIALS, CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST AND LUNCH. TO REGISTER, CALL THE CHURCH OFFICE AT 248-569-3405

BY MARCH 18TH . PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: ST. JOHN ARMENIAN CHURCH (MEMO: RETREAT)

The Third Week of Great Lent

Sunday of the Prodigal Son - Անարակի Կիրակի

PRAYER BY ST. NERSESS SHNORHALI O Christ, guardian of all, let your right hand be over me day and night While at home and traveling, sleeping and rising, that I may never fail. Have mercy upon all your creatures and especially upon me, a sinner.

Amen. Finding God in the Pigsty Well, not literally, but it took exactly that - cleaning the muck in a pigsty - for a young man who had left home in a willful hurry to realize that perhaps he may have been wrong after all. Perhaps his happiness lay where he left it - in his father's house.

This exquisite Bible parable has a cast of only three, yet manages to embrace the entire human story: the enduring love of the father, the journey of a young man who "after all his exploring arrived where he started and knew the place for the first time" (to quote T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets"); the faithful one who resentfully wondered: Why isn't fidelity rewarded? Or is it? Read this story and discover why staying close to God is the most rewarding adventure of all.

READ: Luke:11-32

DO: Share a fun activity with a brother, sister or cousin.

REFLECT: Why do you think things can look better “somewhere else?” What is the most important lesson to be learned from this parable?

BAKU MEMORIAL DEDICATION UPDATE

Due to delays in the delivery and installation of the monument, the dedication date has been deferred to the Spring of 2013. As soon as the committee has the assurance of a guaranteed delivery date for installation, a new dedication date will be announced. On the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan that began on February 27, 1988 in Sumgait and continued in Baku until 1990, a special Requiem Ser-vice / Bashdon Hokehanksdyan is being offered today for all our Armenian brothers and sisters who perished.

NEW AT THE PARISH BOOKSTORE

Nowhere: a Story of Exile by Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte - SC - $20.00

A riveting, heart-wrenching story told through the diary entries of an 8-year old Armenian girl documenting the organized terror in Baku,

her life as a refugee, and her struggle to find herself.

The Sumgait Tragedy: Pogroms against Armenians in Soviet Azerbaijan, Volume I—Eyewitness Accounts

Edited by Samuel Shahmuratian, Forward by Yelena Bonner HC - $45.00

The long awaited sequel to A Summer Without Dawn The Young Man in the Gray Suit by Agop Hacikyan

SC - $20.00

A Summer Without Dawn by Agop Hacikyan-SC - $20.00

Forty Days of Lent Cookbook Selected Armenian Recipes by Alice Antreassian

Spiral-bound SC - $15.00

Includes Lenten meal plans, detailed recipes and interesting facts about Lenten customs and traditions.

TODAY

ANNUAL PARISH ASSEMBLY

AND ELECTIONS

All parishioners whose pledges are current as of

December 31, 2012 are eligible to participate and vote in the

Annual Parish Assembly.

Child care is available during the Assembly.

ST. JOHN’S HOME BUILD TEAM

WILL PREPARE & SERVE PRE-ASSEMBLY

LENTEN LUNCH

The menu will consist of salad, bulghur pilaf,

green beans, spinach pie, lentil kufteh,

dessert and beverages.

The cost is $10.00 per person.

The proceeds will benefit the next team’s travel to Armenia

to build a home under the auspices of the Fuller Center for

Housing-Armenia. The team leader is Jackie ElChemmas.

Please make checks payable to “St. John Armenian Church.”

Thank you for your support.

Baku pogroms survivor, Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, discussed her family’s narrow escape from Azerbaija-ni aggression and the need for expand-ed U.S. support for the economic and political development of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh with newly elect-ed U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) dur-ing a meeting at his Portland offices, reported the ANCA Eastern Region (ANCA-ER). Astvatsaturian Turcotte, an accomplished lawyer and author, shared a copy of her recently pub-lished family memoire, “Nowhere: A Story of Exile,” with the Senator and his staff. The heart-wrenching story, told through her diary entries, documents the harrowing details of organized terror against Armenians in Baku, her life as a refugee, and her struggle to find herself, all against the backdrop of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sur-viving the atrocities, Astvatsaturian Turcotte emigrated to the U.S. in 1992, and became a U.S. citizen in 1997. Last December, at a Capitol Hill event that the ANCA helped organ-ize, Astvatsaturian Turcotte spoke passionately regarding the anti-Armenian massacres that began in 1988 and the ongoing intolerance faced by the few Armenians left in Azerbaijan as among the most powerful reasons to contin-ue the fight for justice and self-determination for the people of Artsakh. "The reality of today and the last 24 years since 1988 is that Armenians there are no safer under Azeri rule than we were in Baku," she explained. "The anti-Armenian rhetoric and propaganda plagues its policies. Artsakh Armenians could and should never be subjected to the Azeri government."

Ms. Astvatsaturian Turcotte will visit St. John’s on Sunday, June 16th to discuss her work and book. Details of her visit will be forthcoming.

ANNA ASTVATSATURIAN TURCOTTE DISCUSSES AZERBAIJANI AGGRESSION, KARABAKH

SELF-DETERMINATION WITH SEN. ANGUS KING

LENTEN SERIES: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS—Part II

During Great Lent, we reflect on this season of penance and spiritual re-newal and think more deeply upon the Sacrament of Confession and the seven great sins we acknowledge. We ask God to forgive and restore us to his grace and communion from the actions of Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Covetousness, Gluttony and Lust.

2. Envy – in Armenian, Nakhantsootiun Just imagine, the entire advertising industry is built upon competition, in-citing envy among colleagues, neighbors, friends, and even within family and relationships. Gender equality has in many cases today become gender competition. What becomes lost is our sight of who we individually are, what we have been given by God and defining those gifts in our person-hood making them the best our human abilities can be. We shouldn’t be obsessing on other persons and who they are and whatever they have, but be thankful to God for what WE have and Who we are and What we DO with our gifts to glorify the one God who gave them to us. Remember- When we choose to win - like weakened and tempted Adam and Eve - then we lose to sin. We need to be always on guard not to breathe in the stench and sour smell of hell’s evil and the Devil in his disguise. We must seek the aroma and fragrance that Christ gives to our lives.

3. Anger - in Armenian, Pargootiun We must get in touch with and express our anger many counselors and therapists tell us. Encounter groups, television trashy-talk shows, , political meetings and debates can create a stage where Anger, vengeance, unkind-ness, can wound the human heart and soul. Pursuing our freedom of speech to express onself self, though a good gift from God, can create walls, barriers and distances between all people often times irreparable, never to be healed. We need to probe the good in our hearts and focus on how to speak the truth in love for the good of the other person, instead of being so quick tempered to use the tongue that can be like a sword which creates a bleeding wound that may never be healed.

4. Sloth - in Armenian, Dzoolootiun Someone says, find an island with a beach, retire early, relax, take a day or two off from work, it’s okay to miss a Sunday Badarak, slow down, feel good about yourself---it’s all part of the American Dream. But in truth, when life is reduced to pleasure and play only, then the danger will make you lazy in this life to find God, and enjoy him in the life to come.

WOMEN’S GUILD NEWS

Armenian Baked Goods will be available for purchase after worship today. Winter Baking continues on Tuesday, February 26th at 9:00 am in the church kitchen. Charlene Apigian and Ma-rianne Dardrian will lead us in making Cheoreg. We will

continue with Winter Baking every Tuesday until Holy Week. Everyone is welcome. For questions contact Marianne Dardarian at 248-661-0617.

Moms and Manoogs meet for social interaction and fun activities. Our meeting days are flexible and we’d love to have you and your Manoogs join our group. For more information contact Kristen Gustafson at kris-

teng@outlook.com or 248-765-0471.

Knitting Club – Join us on Thursday, March 21st from 10:00-12:00 Noon. Please contact Linda Assarian at 248-332-0816 if you are interested in partic-ipating.

SAVE THE DATE...SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013, 12:00 NOON…

“A ROYAL LUNCHEON”

SPONSORED BY THE WOMEN’S GUILD IN THE MAIN HALL

The Women's Guild invites you to become a member.

For information please call Terry Palaian, 313-929-0926.

Women’s Guild Best-Selling Cookbook

Armenian Cuisine –

Preserving our Heritage

is available in our Church Bookstore. This beautifully photographed hard cover cookbook includes all festival

recipes, as well as hundreds of kitchen-tested Armenian favorites from our community.

$25.00

T H E G R E AT L E N T E N S E A S O N

Office Hours: Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

After hour s in an emer gency, p lease contact : Pastor ’ s Cel l : 248.225.9888

Par ish Counc i l Chair man’s Cel l : 248.688.1214 Administr ator ’s Ce l l : 248 .880.8391

THE PSALM OF DISMISSAL - PSALM 34

Orhnetseets uzDer hamenayn zham, hamenayn zham

orhnootyoon nora ee peran eem.

Օրհնեցից ըզՏէր յամենայն ժամ, յամենայն ժամ,

oրհնութիւն նորա ի բերան իմ:

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall be at all times in my mouth.

During the period of Great Lent in the Armenian Church we observe the following:

The altar curtain is closed .

There is no Kiss of Peace during the Divine Liturgy.

Holy Communion is not offered during the Divine Liturgy.

The Holy Gospels Book is not venerated after worship.

Hymns are sung in penitential melody.

Names of saints are not remembered.

The organ is not played when departing from the

sanctuary.

All should remain silent when exiting the sanctuary after worship in respect to those who remain for devotional prayers.

Weddings and Baptisms are not celebrated.